Yesterday, I wrote about my pet peeve that is ‘magic is for pussies’ in FromSoft games. That wasn’t what I intended to write about, but I couldn’t get it off my mind. Today, I was going to write about the thing that was on my mind, but another ‘you should play the From games like this’ stuck in my craw. It’s because I was still watching Aoife and other-Ian make their way through Elden Ring (again). They were in Mount Gelmir, making their way to Volcano Manor.
At some point, they were talking about summoning for the bosses (I’m pretty sure it’s in this episode. Or the one following. Probably this one, though. They were talking about how a newbie can ease into a From game and how to make it easier on themselves. Other-Ian said that you could summon if you were having trouble, and Aoife said you should try to solo the boss first.
Side Note: She doesn’t count the spirit summons as summons, but many hardcore fans do. It’s one reason some of them don’t think Elden Ring is a good game–because some of the bosses are nearly impossible to solo. I have NO sympathy because the game was created around the system, which means you’re SUPPOSED to use the spirit summons for the boss fights. So someone knowingly refusing to use a tool of the game, yeah, you get no sympathy from me.
FromSoft is allowed to grow, change, and adapt. They do not need to keep their systems stagnant just because some of the hardcore fans have a static view on what the games should be–one that is, when taken to extreme, toxic and damaging. Not the desire to solo, to be clear, but the idea that if FromSoft deviates from this one bit, it’s a deep and bitter betrayal and a blow to their manhood.
Back to Aoife and Ian. Ian quickly countered that he had summoned for a few of the bosses without fighting them solo because he just wanted to move on. Aoife said that if you don’t fight them solo, you don’t get any sense of them and don’t get the satisfaction when you beat them. Ian said he definitely got the satisfaction when he beat them and moved on, which disgruntled Aoife.
They moved on, but I wanted to expand on it a bit. I actually agree with Aoife. I always tried to solo the bosses (with my spirit summon) because there is something satisfying about finally beating a boss who had given you so much trouble. But, on the other hand, there was a boss I reached at the end of an area I hated who was a trick boss with two looooooooong stages. I tried the boss a few times, but I was so tired of the area by that point. And, if I’m to be honest, I was a bit weary of the game. This happens to me at the end of all FromSoft games because I inhale them and go hard at them when they come out.
I tried the boss three or four times and was just done with it. I could not be stuffed to figure it out (I’m sure I could have. It was a trick boss, not a real one.). I summoned two people and got it done in a few goes. I have no regrets about it, though I do wonder what it would be like to fight that boss properly. I may do it on my current playthrough–or not. For whatever reason, I just do not care about this boss at all. Probably because I’ve done a version of it in DS III.
I felt no guilt about summoning for that boss, but I do agree with Aoife in general. I like to at least try the bosses on my own before summoning because that’s part of the game to me. I was watching some YouTuber guiding his wife through Dark Souls II years ago, and she immediately summoned NPCs for the bosses (there are plenty in that game). I had to admit that I turned it off after 45 minutes or so because it was uninteresting to watch. And there was a voice in the back of my head that said she was not playing it the right way.
I do think part of the game is having a go at the bosses on your own. But, especially since my medical crisis, I’m much less wedded to that belief. To be clear, I didn’t care about it for other people before I was hospitalized. I may not want to watch someone who constantly summoned, but it was no skin off my nose if they wanted to do it in their own games.
It’s a weird thing. I get the pride of beating a boss solo. I had it myself with the other games. I have beaten all the bosses of all the games solo except for the gank squad bosses in the DLCs of the second Souls games and 3 of the 5 bosses in the DLC of Bloodborne. Ornstein & Smough took me five to six hours to beat and near or over a hundred tries–and this was over a week (I only allowed myself to fight them an hour a day).
I don’t think there is anything wrong with taking pride in that. It’s a big accomplishment especially for those of us who suck at these games. It tips over into toxicity when you expect others to abide by the same rules and put them down if they don’t.
I had a completely different mentality when Elden Ring came out. I had survived death twice in real life, so I did not care in the least if I soloed a boss or not. I mean, I did always try a boss on my own with my spirit summon, but if it didn’t work after two or three times, I had no qualm about calling in the NPC summon if there was one. A human summon, well, I was a bit more reticent about that. I don’t know why. Probably because the NPC summons are pretty much just meat shields and damage sponges whereas human summons can beat the bosses on their own.
I’m trying to think. I beat Margit with my jellyfish summon, Godrick with my wolves and Nephali. Loretta with the wolves and Rennala also with the wolves. No summons for either of those. Those are the first four bosses. i did calli n Nephali for Godrick because I liked her and why not?
That was the difference with Elden Ring. I was in it for the exploration and discovery. I didn’t care as much about beating the bosses on my own. I don’t consider doing it with the spirit summons as doing it on my own, but I also don’t care about it. I beat a few of the bosses solo (out in the field), but I almost always used my spirit summon.
I have no patience for the people whining about the spirit summons ruining the balance. They probably hate the ashes of war, too, which are skills you can put on your weapons and shields. Hoarfrost Stomp is my favorite. You ‘stomp’ and send out a wave of ice that does damage and hits the enemy in the stamina. It is fantastic and how I did an extremely difficult part of a certain NPC questline.
Look. At this point, my belief is that you play the game however you want. The point of playing a game is to have a good time, not to impress other people who play it differently.
When I first started playing Elden Ring, I had a friend on Twitter say that she was trying it because of me. I helped her as much as I could, but when she admitted she was just not having fun, I told her it was a perfectly fine option to stop playing! It’s not for everyone and I’m not going to be offended if someone else doesn’t like it. I want people to love From games, yes, but I’m not going to scold them if they don’t. It really is ok.